Wow!
This week has been amazing! First of all... I love London. It is the coolest city ever! There are SO many people here! There are people from all across the world as well! To get around in London, you take the Tube. Which is the English version of the Subway. It is so cool! You get a little Oyster card and you can get ANYWHERE! It's the best! Our flat is a four man flat. So there is me and my companion (Elder Massey who is a legend) then there is Elder Robertson (who was in my MTC group) and Elder Reynolds. They are all great guys and we have lots of fun together. Our flat is about a 7 minute walk from the Hyde Park Chapel. It is so great! We live in the beating heart of London! When you leave our flat you can see the Royal Albert Hall and Hyde Park. It's pretty posh.
The funny thing is we teach loads of Chinese people. I got here and was a little surprised that 90% of our investigators were Chinese. Let me just tell you... Chinese people are the best. Often times they haven't had ANY experience with Jesus Christ. They are incredibly smart and surprisingly they are SOOO in tune with the Spirit. It blows my mind. They haven't felt the spirit often in their lives, so when they do they recognize it. Sometimes reading a scripture or saying a prayer gives them a testimony of the Gospel. It is the best! I love teaching them. It actually really has strengthened my testimony to see them and their strength in the Gospel. In the Britannia YSA Ward there are about 30% Oriental people. They are the most active and spiritual people I've encountered on my mission. It has been a humbling and amazing experience.
Well! We got to go to the Natural History Museum today and the museums here are NEXT level. So big, so beautiful, and so many cool things inside. It seems like there are so many things to do and not enough time... kind of opposite of Northampton. Haha! I really love this Gospel. It brings so much peace and joy into life. I love my Savior and I have loved the opportunity to know him a little better.
Well, sure love you all! Have an amazing week!
Elder Draper
This is what he wrote to Mom because Mom is always telling him to work hard, play hard and really enjoy those PDays and get out there and see the city. Zhaun-Paul wrote: I hate to do this, but I have run out of time to do PDay stuff. I just want to let you know that I am having the time of my life. My testimony is growing each day. My new companion is Elder Massey! He's from Utah (Sandy). He's a beast. He's been out for 6 1/2 months and he's a boss. Our apartment is AMAZING! It is a £5,000,000 flat in the heart of London. I've seen Big Ben, the London Eye, the Natural History Museum and Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes Baker Street) It is the best!
Big news!
After spending the first 4 1/2 months in the blessed land of Northampton and seeing so many amazing things and meeting so many great and wonderful people! I've been transferred to serve in London! I'm so excited! Apparently, our flat is right in central London. Just a short walk from the Hyde Park Chapel! I'm excited for this opportunity to learn, grow, and serve in the Britannia YSA Ward! Plus I hear that Abbey Road and Paul McCartney's house are in my area...
This week was an amazing last week in Northampton! We met with Daniel 5 times this week and he came to Institute, FHE, and Church. He is reading and praying daily and he is just a legend! It is a joy every time we get to teach him. He has amazing questions and a sincere desire to learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm a little heartbroken that I won't be able to teach him anymore, but he promised he'd come visit me in London, haha!
We got to get back in touch with David and Laura! They are loving their new jobs they got. David is still such a goofy guy. It was great to see them again! We're seeing them so hopefully all will go well, and they will take the lessons again.
I had an amazing experience this week while I was studying the Book of Mormon. I was reading Mosiah, and I came across the chapter when Abinadi quotes Isaiah. I wanted to really understand it and not just "get through" it. I prayed that I'd be able to really understand it and when I read it I was touched. I don't think any words have ever struck my heart like that chapter did that morning. I am grateful that our Father in Heaven hears and answers our prayers. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon, and the understanding that comes from the spirit!
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week!
All the best!
Elder Draper
Heya!Hope that everyone had an amazing week! I know that my week was full of amazing experiences, quirky ways to find new investigators, and good ol' English weather. It had some interesting teaching experiences... and then some incredible teaching experiences. We had Zone Conference this week, which is always amazing. Every time I get to hear from President and Sister Stevens I learn something new and feel their love for us and for this great work! They are legends!
This week was rather chilly. Which is Englishman speak for "incredibly cold." They don't like to express very much emotion. They're actually most like M&M's a really hard shell, and chocolate in the middle which means that they don't like to open up, but when they do they are just the most lovely people. Wow. I got pretty side tracked there.
Something fun we did this week, was we baked cookies at the chapel and delivered them to some Jehovah's Witnesses that are always set up in the Town Centre. It was awesome! There are some lovely people who love God and Jesus Christ trying to spread the word. But that was besides the point. The objective was something fun to do while we talked with as many people as possible along the way and it was AWESOME! We found some really cool people!
The highlight of this week was teaching Daniel. He is the one I'm fairly certain I mentioned before from Columbia. He has the most real intent of anyone I've taught. While we were teaching the Restoration he asked amazing questions like: "I don't understand why my church baptizes babies, because they don't have a choice. If it's such a big deal...why do they not get a say in it?" Luckily, when you represent the True and living church in the Earth in these latter-days, you have answers to questions like that. It was amazing. The most important thing is that the spirit was there in abundance. It's the simple things that invite the spirit. Asking questions, using scriptures, and testifying.
Another thing that invites the spirit is obedience to the Commandments. It really is so simple. If you keep the commandments you get blessings. Simple. Not always easy to follow. I really have seen that being obedient brings so many tender mercies. I know what we get from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest joy. Joy that lasts. Joy that grows. I'm grateful for the opportunity we all have to experience that joy that comes from keeping the commandments. I'm grateful that I have his opportunity to share that joy with the fantastic people of England! Love you all!Have a great week!Elder Draper
This week was pretty crazy and exciting!!
First of all, it seems that I got to do a lot of traveling around England this week. I guess the perks of being fairly good lads with the Zone Leaders leads to getting to run errands with them. Last Monday, we went to Milton Keynes, which is a really cool fairly new city. It is set up similar to Utah, where it's on a grid system. They have this gigantic shopping centre that is half outdoors and half indoors, and it's just mind blowingly awesome. Plus there was a
Krispy Kreme inside.
The next place we traveled to was Cambridge. There was some big fiasco about moving a car to Cambridge, so the Cambridge Elders can have a new car and send their old one back to Germany (where the church HQ is in Europe) Anyways, since my companion has a drivers license and they needed to get two cars down there, I got to go along for the ride. Cambridge is a really cool place. There are tons of universities everywhere, and the whole city is designed for bike travel... thats when you know its an old city.
The last place we were able to travel was a place called the Salcey Forest. We actually just got back. It was this wicked cool tree-top walk where you DEFINITELY feel like you are an Ewok on Endor. Then it was just a trail through a super dense forest, but we came to the conclusion that Robbin Hood lived in that forest... we're not that far from Nottingham after all.
Another great thing that happened this week was Zone Meeting. There was an amazing training about focus and urgency. We as members of the true church of Jesus Christ should "lengthen our stride" as Spencer W. Kimball said. We need to focus on what matters most and then pursue it with all our might, mind, and strength. We should be urgent in this great work!
We met with Daniel, who is from Columbia, and he is such a good guy! He has such real intent! In England you sort of have people from all over the place. I can even say Hello, How are you, good, and goodbye in Polish, Romanian, Ghanian, and Arabic!
Well, thats about it for this week.
Love you all, and I hope you have an incredible week!! Pick something that means a lot to you and focus on it this week. Pursue it with urgency and you will see great results!
Elder Draper
